Madness In The Middle Kingdom

Today you would have been 38 and I would have called you and made some stupid and/or witty joke about how old you are getting. You would have replied with something stupid and/or witty about me turning 40. One of us would have said “Who would have thought we would have gotten this old?” We would have talked for a few minutes about the amazing things that our kids were doing. You would have told me how cute Nathan was trying to say “How Now Brown Cow” in the video on this blog. You would have told me again how you served Richard Brodeur drinks last night as he came in to the Thirsty Penguin. I would have said that it was morning here in China and that I had better get going to work. You would have told me how busy you were with your two jobs also. I would have said “See you this summer”. You would have said “I’ll be there at the airport”. We would have said our goodbyes but we wouldn’t have said we loved each other.

I love you. Always did. Always will.

Well Amma … while Nathan isn’t making speeches he is trying hard at learning to talk.

From time to time more for my own gratification of living a holiday well spent (time-wise NOT money-wise) I will post the odd pic here and there of our travels through Thailand. This was a sunset that was truly not to be missed at Nai Yang Beach - a cozy little beach on Phuket that is (as of yet) not overrun with development.

Pouring through the thousand+ photos that we took over the winter holiday Alice identified the following one of Nathan at sunset as her favourite.

As you can see we are not starving the boy.

Today in the office a few of us were gabbing about television memories of our youth and the subject of the British comedy show “The Two Ronnies” came up. Quickly I scoured the internet and YouTube for clips and info of the famous duo. The series ran for 17 years from 1971-1987 and enjoyed high popularity throughout its run. I remember my Dad buying a Two Ronnies album which I listened to over and over again trying to memorize every line.

Sadly Ronnie Barker, the main writer of the two and the fellow on the right in the picture above, passed away in 2005.

Their comedy was witty and relied on a lot of wordplay which they delivered in flawless style. The show had a simple style beginning with the News introduction “In a packed program tonight” . . .

followed by some sketch comedy . . .

(this sketch was voted their number one sketch)

And then went back to the News desk for the final wrap up . . .

The sign-off was always the same
* Corbett: So it’s “Goodnight” from me.
* Barker: And it’s “Goodnight” from him.
* Both: Goodnight!

Goodnight Ronnie Barker.

also known as the Lantern Festival occurs on the 15th day of the First Month of the Chinese Year and marks the end of the New Year’s Holidays. In many neighbourhoods there are performances and celebrations that most certainly include fireworks and firecrackers of all kinds.

In addition it is customary to eat Yunxiao. Yuanxiao is the special food for the Lantern Festival. It is believed that Yuanxiao is named after a palace maid, Yuanxiao, of Emperor Wu Di of the Han Dynasty.

Yuanxiao is a kind of sweet dumpling, which is made with sticky rice flour filled with sweet stuffing and the Festival is named after the famous dumpling. It is very easy to cook - simply dump them in a pot of boiling water for a few minutes and they are eaten as a desert. Alice had them tonight but Carter, Nathan and I weren’t biting. The boys did have big helpings of Mantou (steamed buns) which is always a treat around the MaBrown household.

Anyway as mentioned the air is definitely filled with fireworks the likes of which no Western person could imagine. Starting this evening about 5 pm all over our suburb of Kai Fa Qu it sounded like a warzone with very very impressive displays of pyrotechnics … this has gone on for 4 or 5 hours and is beginning to lose some of its “charm”

If ya can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em –> at about 7 pm we joined the Englesons in lighting off some of our own fireworks to ring in the New Year. Carter got into the act and light off several himself

under the guidance of Mama of course

I was lucky enough to capture this shot of one of Craig’s fireworks

So how impressive do the firework displays get? Judge for yourself as I shot several minutes of footage right outside our apartment door. This was just one of thousands of sets going off around Kai Fa Qu tonight. This particular display raged for about 10 minutes and was quickly followed by another and another and another ….

When I was at UBC in 1987 my parents bought me a great Christmas gift - an acoustic guitar. I had always wanted one since I was a young child. We had visited a relative on my mom’s side whose name might have been Ken but I can’t be sure as it was a long time ago. What I do remember was this guy playing a guitar and I really really enjoyed listening to him play. I decided that I wanted to learn to play but never really pursued it until many years later a buddy of mine from Quesnel, Scott Perry, got a guitar as a gift from his parents. Scotty was my roommate in my first year and we spent many late night jam sessions with a few other guys living in our residence. Scott proved to be quite adept at it and I was not. Fast forward 20 years and I am teaching in China while Scotty is playing guitar in a pretty hot Vancouver based band called The Orchid Highway (click for their webpage).

Tonight as I looked over at my neglected guitar with a broken string I decided to surf YouTube for some videos of acoustic guitar playing and came across these gems. Each one has a different style but all are fantastic examples of a guitar played extremely well.